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Abstract:
Past research has focussed on how spatial attention can be
allocated to visual displays based on gestalt grouping principles
(e.g., Driver & Baylis, 1989; Kramer & Jacobson, 1991). The
current experiments ask whether spatial attention can also affect
how visual information is perceptually grouped. Using a same/
different matching task and spatial cues (as an attentional
manipulation), we conducted a number of experiments to determine
whether spatial attention can affect perceptual grouping, and under
what conditions. Our results suggest that in some circumstances,
spatial attention can override perceptual grouping cues and cause
visual features to be grouped together that would not ordinarily be
grouped based on gestalt principles alone. Specifically, spatial
attention influences perceptual organization when the stimulus
displays contain grouping cues which are consistent with the
attentional cues.
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